From the course: Project Management Foundations: Risk

Dealing with volatility in a project environment

From the course: Project Management Foundations: Risk

Dealing with volatility in a project environment

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- Former governor of the US State of Alabama William C. Oates said, "Rapid change of conditions in all human affairs bring unexpected results." And you guessed it, rapid change introduces volatility to projects and those unexpected results create risk for our projects. Common factors that change on a project are key stakeholders, available skill levels, sponsor expectations or concerns, technology, and risks that come to fruition. It's rare to deliver a project and not have to deal with at least one of these changes because we deliver projects in a world of volatility, but it doesn't have to drive you crazy. Being prepared for a bit of volatility can help you deliver your project and keep your sanity. Here are my top tips. Keep a one-page project purpose and status summary up to date. I've found that when key stakeholders, especially your sponsor, changes, the quicker you get to them and discuss the project, the fewer changes and issues you'll have to deal with. Without your summary, that key stakeholder will form their own often uninformed opinions, and you'll deal with more challenges and volatility. Have a single-page presentation that describes the outcome your project will provide to the organization, the projected cost and timeframes, what resources each key stakeholder must contribute, and the current status against baselines. You'll be able to answer most questions a new key stakeholder might pose and convey a sense of control over your project. Understand available staffing options and impacts, knowing where alternate staff members can be found, and the cost and availability of skilled contractors helps you quickly address staffing volatility. Being told a staff member will be removed from the project is gut-wrenching. Often, little can be done to change that decision. However, quickly responding to losing a staff member with the impacts on costs and schedule can help deter those unwanted changes. It'll also allow you to process change requests to obtain the resource with the right skill. Get to know your sponsor. Every sponsor I've worked with had at least one prevalent concern to address. For some, it's the schedule. Others are very cost-conscious, preferring to reduce scope versus having a cost overrun. Another sponsor was good at dealing with project issues, but only if he knew about them in advance from the project team and wasn't blindsided by his manager. If you want to reduce sudden changes to your project, understand your sponsor's hot buttons and keep them informed when project challenges surface. Check AI sources for areas of volatility. AI is an uber efficient resource tool. Before you start your project and its challenges surface, prompt your favorite AI tool for instances where volatility can occur in your project's product area. You might not get many new ideas, but even one that gives you a bit of foresight is well worth the effort. And any foresight helps you reduce project volatility and the unexpected results Governor Oates feared so much. The exercise files include a sample of a one-page project status summary, and a sample prompt for identifying project volatility.

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